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More news →Nayantra is over the moon
Nayantra was Rajini's heroine in Chandramukhi. The film is a record-breaker and everybody is talking about the duo. Now Nayantra has been specially chosen for a song in Rajini's ongoing film Sivaji. Nayantra is over the moon with this offer. 'It is not everyday that an actress gets to play in back-to-back Rajini films. But I am lucky,' she says with obvious pride. That is not all, normally Rajini has a solo introduction song. But in Sivaji it is different. He has Nayantra for company. Nayantra is naturally thrilled with this rare honor.
Moon may be 200 million years younger than thought
IT MAY be grey but it is not as old as you might imagine. A rock thought to date from the moon's formation points to the satellite being about 200 million years younger than previously calculated, suggesting its history may need to be rewritten. The moon is generally considered to have formed following a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body in the early solar system. Once the molten debris coalesced into the moon, the theory goes, its crust solidified over several hundred million years. Evidence for an early lunar magma ocean comes from orbital data showing an abundance of plagioclase, a lightweight mineral that crystallises from and floats to the top of magma. But measuring the age of lunar plagioclase, samples of which were collected by Apollo astronauts, is fraught with uncertainty. The rocks contain only tiny amounts of the lead isotopes normally used to date rocks and are contaminated with lead dust from Earth. Now Lars Borg at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and colleagues have re-dated one of the rocks after washing it with a weak acid to remove the surface layer and any lead contamination. They were surprised to find it was just 4.36 billion years old, meaning it formed about 200 million years after the solar system's first solid materials. The moon was previously thought to have formed within 30 million years or so of the solar system. Dating techniques using samarium and neodymium isotopes pointed to the younger age (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature10328). The team says this hints that the impact that created the moon may have happened later than previously thought or that a magma ocean did not cover the early moon's surface. "The extraordinarily young age of this lunar sample either means that the moon solidified significantly later than previous estimates, or that we need to change our understanding of the moon's geochemical history," says team member Richard Carlson of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC. But Clive Neal of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana says some of the plagioclase - including this sample - might simply have melted again after the moon formed. Different minerals solidify at different temperatures, so if a heavy mineral solidified before a lighter one beneath it, it would sink, pushing magma upwards. This could melt the plagioclase and reset its age. "I remain to be convinced that the moon is as young as suggested by this paper," he says.
Rare Moon mineral found in Australia
A mineral brought back to Earth by the first men on the Moon and long thought to be unique to the lunar surface has been found in Australian rocks more than one billion years old, scientists said Thursday. Named after Apollo 11's 1969 landing site at the Sea of Tranquility, tranquillityite was one of three minerals first discovered in rocks from the Moon and the only one not to be found, in subsequent years, on Earth. Australian scientist Birger Rasmussen said tranquillityite had "long been considered as the Moon's own mineral" until geologists discovered it, by chance, in rock from resources-rich Western Australia. "In over 40 years it hadn't been found in any terrestrial samples," Rasmussen, from Curtin University, told. When the Moon samples first came back Rasmussen said they were considered to be "extremely precious" and had been subjected to intense, detailed study when -- ironically -- their contents were "right here all the time." "They were always part of Earth, they haven't come from the Moon," he said of his work on the discovery, published in the journal Geology. "It tells you that broadly overall you have similar chemistries and similar processes operating on the Moon as on Earth." As well as being "quirky and surprising" Rasmussen said the discovery also had important practical applications, with the mineral proving to be an excellent dating tool which had allowed scientists to pin down the rocks' age. "We used this mineral ... to date the dolerite which has previously been undated, so that helped us understand the geological history," he said. They were 1.07 billion years old, more ancient than rocks in the area had previously been thought to be, and Rasmussen said tranquillityite would be useful in dating similar rocks in the future. "I think it will be a lot more widespread than just the six locations we've found it so far," he added of the rare mineral.
Suman over the moon
Suman's career has been only middling in Telugu. But a villain role in Rajinikanth starrer Sivaji has certainly made him feel elated. Directed by the whiz Shankar, Sivaji has opened new vistas in Suman's career, which was otherwise wallowing in mediocrity and B Grade films. Naturally he speaks in happy adjectives about the film and its director. 'While I was in Chennai one day, out of the blue, I received a call from Shankar asking me whether I can come over to his office,' he recalls about how the movie happened. 'Only upon going there I realized that it was for playing the villain in the film'. Among others, Amitabh, Mohanlal, Sanjay Dutt were talked for that role. A small screen test and a few dialogues later, Suman was quickly signed up. 'I immediately called up Rajini and he wished me well,' Suman recalls with happiness. Rajini and Suman had acted together in the Tamil remake of Deewar. Rajini played Amitabh's role while Suman did that of Shashi Kapoor's. Suman says that the villain role in Sivaji is not one-dimensional. 'It is a multi-faceted character. I am enjoying it,' he says. Suman thinks a new chapter in his career has begun.
Possible ice volcano found on Saturn moon
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has spotted what could be an ice volcano on Saturn’s moon Titan, scientists said Tuesday. The images were analysed by the US Geological Society, which noted the similarity of an area of the moon known as Sotra Facula to volcanoes on Earth. The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Ice volcanoes, also called cryovolcanoes, have long been believed to exist in icy parts of the solar system, but the new evidence is the best yet that they exist. The images of two peaks more than 900 metres high are likely ice volcanoes, which spew water and icy particles to the surface instead of hot lava, scientists said. “This is the very best evidence, by far, for volcanic topography anywhere documented on an icy satellite,” scientist Jeffrey Kargel said. A previous feature discovered on the moon had initially been believed to be an ice volcano, but that theory was later discounted. The existence of ice volcanoes would explain other features of the Earth-like moon, such as the high levels of methane in its atmosphere.
Twin NASA craft on the way to moon
CAPE CANAVERAL: A pair of spacecraft rocketed toward the moon Saturday on the first mission dedicated to measuring lunar gravity and determining what's inside Earth's orbiting companion — all the way down to the core. "I could hardly be happier," said the lead scientist, Maria Zuber. After two days of delays and almost another, "I was trying to be as calm as I could be." NASA launched the near identical probes named Grail-A and Grail-B aboard a relatively small Delta II rocket to save money. It will take close to four months for the spacecraft to reach the moon, a long, roundabout journey compared with the zippy three-day trip of the Apollo astronauts four decades ago. Grail-A popped off the upper stage of the rocket exactly as planned 1½ hours after liftoff, followed eight minutes later by Grail-B. Both releases were seen live on NASA TV thanks to an on-board rocket camera, and generated loud applause in Launch Control. The pair are traveling independently to the moon, with A arriving on New Year's Eve and B on New Year's Day. "Grail, simply put, is a journey to the center of the moon," said Ed Weiler, head of NASA's science mission directorate, borrowing from the title of the Jules Verne science fiction classic, "Journey to the Center of the Earth." The world has launched more than 100 missions to the moon since the Soviet Union's Luna probes in 1959. That includes NASA's six Apollo moon landings that put 12 men on the lunar surface. NASA's Grail twins each the size of a washing machine won't land on the moon but will conduct their science survey from lunar orbit. Beginning in March, once the spacecraft are orbiting just 34 miles above the moon's surface, scientists will monitor the slight variations in distance between the two to map the moon's entire gravitational field. The measurements will continue through May. "It will probe the interior of the moon and map its gravity field 100 to 1,000 times better than ever before. We will learn more about the interior of the moon with Grail than all previous lunar missions combined," Weiler said. At the same time, four cameras on each spacecraft will offer schoolchildren the opportunity to order up whatever pictures of the moon they want. The educational effort is spearheaded by Sally Ride, America's first spacewoman. The entire Grail mission costs $496 million. (AP)